UN closes special tribunal for Lebanon 19 years after Hariri's assassination

The UN on Sunday closed the Special Tribunal for Lebanon whose aim was to try those responsible for a 2005 attack that killed 22 people, including former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, and injured 226 people.

Established by Security Council resolution 1757 in 2007, the Special Tribunal’s jurisdiction also extended to other attacks that were judicially determined to be connected to the Beirut attack on 14 February 2005.

Hariri’s assassination involved explosives equivalent to 2,500-3,000 kilogrammes of dynamite, detonated as his motorcade travelled across downtown Beirut and left behind an 11-metre-wide crater.

The Special Tribunal held proceedings in absentia and convicted Salim Jamil Ayyash in connection with the 2005 attack, sentencing him to five concurrent life sentences in 2020. In 2022, the tribunal reversed its initial acquittal of Hassan Habib Merhi and Hussein Hassan Oneissi, finding both guilty.

All three men remain at large.

Closing the tribunal, the UN secretary-general said he “expresses his deep appreciation for the dedication and hard work of the judges and staff at the Special Tribunal throughout the years.”

Inaugurated in 2009, the independent tribunal was based in the outskirts of The Hague in the Netherlands and comprised Lebanese and international judges. It prosecuted suspects using Lebanese law, but was not part of Lebanon’s justice system nor was it a UN tribunal.

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